Bolton were hit for five for the fourth match in succession - this time suffering a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Gillingham at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium.

Not since 1969, then under the management of the legendary Nat Lofthouse, have Wanderers found themselves shipping goals at such an alarming rate, but the result further showcases the size of the rebuilding job required by the club's new owners - who will be seeking to appoint a manager ahead of Monday's forthcoming transfer deadline.

It took Gillingham 27 minutes to break the deadlock, with Connor Ogilvie lashing home following a mistake from Yoan Zouma, and they went in 2-0 up at the interval after Olly Lee doubled the advantage on 39 minutes.

Brandon Hanlan added a third nine minutes after the restart, three minutes before Lee got his second of the afternoon to make it 4-0. But the scoring wasn't over just yet, with Jordan Boon putting into his own net 14 minutes from time after Remi Matthews had made a hash of collecting a routine cross.

Interim manager Jimmy Phillips made four changes to the Trotters side beaten at home by Ipswich Town last Saturday, as Boon, Jack Hobbs, Dennis Politic and Eddie Brown took the places of benched Joe White, Sonny Graham, Callum King-Harmes and De'Marlio Brown-Sterling.

Confidence has been in short supply at Bolton in recent weeks, so much so that it came as little surprise to see mistakes creeping into their game inside three minutes.

An error from Matthews presented Hanlan with a glorious opportunity to open the scoring, but the Gills forward failed to make the most of his gift and fired the ball straight back into the arms of the goalkeeper.

Ogilvie headed wide from a Lee free-kick on six minutes, shortly before Alfie Jones lashed wide after latching on to a cutback from Lee.

Mark Byrne was next to try his luck for the hosts, seeing a deflected strike bounce wide on 12 minutes, before he turned provider as Jones headed inches wide of Matthews' target.

Wanderers enjoyed a rare venture forward on 14 minutes as Politic shrugged off the attention of Max Ehmer. He played a neat ball through to Brown, whose attempt to get a shot away was well blocked by Barry Fuller.

Alex Jakubiak held off a challenge from Jason Lowe before firing straight at Matthews on the quarter-hour, but the deadlock was eventually broken on 27 minutes.

A routine free-kick into the Wanderers box caused panic amongst the defence. After the ball had bounced off the midriff of Zouma, Ogilvie was first to react and smashed a half-volley into the net.

Jakubiak beat Hobbs for pace before shooting at Matthews as Gills looked to double their lead, moments before Lee was also denied with a speculative half-volley from the edge of the box.

Lee did have the ball in the net 60 seconds later, however, gambling on a cross from Byrne before firing low and hard past Matthews to make it 2-0.

Politic stung the fingers of Jack Bonham with a free-kick that almost resulted in a goal back, but the home side took their two-goal cushion into the break in convincing style.

Gillingham boss Steve Evans made one change as the players returned for the start of the second period, with the booked Matty Willock being replaced by Mark Marshall.

The hosts sent two warning shots inside the opening 10 minutes following the restart, with Hanlan twice firing over the crossbar, but it wasn't long until the scoreline was 3-0 as Hanlan made amends for his earlier misses by slotting home from a Jakubiak cross.

Marshall was denied by an outstanding save by Matthews immediately following the resulting kick-off, but it was 4-0 moments later as Fuller's cross allowed Lee to volley home from close range.

Byrne stepped away from Callum King-Harmes before shooting wide just after the hour, while substitute Regan Charles-Cook headed over within minutes of his introduction.

A wayward cross from Jakubiak clipped the top of the crossbar with 20 minutes remaining, but there was to be further scoring as Boon put the ball into his own net on 76 minutes following a mistake from goalkeeper Matthews.

Matthews - who has now conceded 20 goals in his last four games - denied Hanlan after Harry Brockbank had made an error, while the goalkeeper also stood tall to keep out an attempt from Mikael Mandron.

Hobbs headed against the bar with three minutes to play, but didn't come close enough to stop Wanderers from going a 10th consecutive league game without a goal. The all-time EFL records stands at 11 - jointly held by both Coventry City and Hartlepool United.

Bolton, potentially under new management, will hope to avoid that unwanted statistic when they return to action at Rotherham United in a fortnight. Their next fixture is this coming Tuesday, though, with Bradford City visiting the University of Bolton Stadium in the Leasing.com Trophy.